Skill Points
by Scrawlers
Summary: Yuugi is a terrible singer, and a night of karaoke has him feeling down. Luckily, Jounouchi knows just how to cheer him up, and also how to explain his lack of singing expertise. [Post-Canon] [Established Relationship Wishshipping]
**Notes:** Jounouchi's Japanese voice actor is an accomplished singer, and while Yuugi's Japanese voice actor was also in a pop group of some kind, I read once on Tumblr that Yuugi's VA was once teased at some event for having a terrible singing voice (perhaps he had an off-day, maybe). Because of this, I headcanon that Jounouchi can sing quite well, while Yuugi's singing voice leaves much to be desired, and thus, this fic was born (a while ago on Tumblr, but I'm uploading it here now).

This is an established relationship Wishshipping fic, so I would say they're about 24/25 here (and living together, of course). Somewhere around that age range.

* * *

 **Skill Points**

* * *

"I sounded like a dying cat."

"Aw, come on, Yuugi, it wasn't that bad—"

"Shizuka-chan looked like she was in physical pain."

Jounouchi shut the door behind them as Yuugi walked over and flopped on the couch, his head back against the sofa cushions. Since Shizuka and Anzu were both miraculously in town they had all decided to go out for a night of dinner and karaoke, figuring that it was something fun they could all do as a group, with no one feeling left out. And it was, for the most part; there was plenty of food, everyone got to take a crack at the mic . . .

. . . and that, of course, led to Yuugi singing, and the revelation that he couldn't really sing at all.

"Well, you know how Shizuka is. She's really picky when it comes to music and stuff. You have to be the best singer in the entire world for her to have nothing to say about it, probably," Jounouchi said, and he crossed the living room to drop on the couch next to Yuugi, who threw his arm over his eyes. "And hey, she didn't even say anything, so look! You're probably just reading too much into it."

"She didn't _have_ to say anything. It was written all over her face," Yuugi said. "Besides, she's too nice to say anything anyway. No matter how bad I am, she'll keep it to herself."

"Nah, she's honest. You can ask her yourself when she gets back. She'll tell you."

While she was in town, Shizuka was staying with the two of them, their guest bedroom providing more than enough room for her. But when they had left the karaoke club earlier, Shizuka had let him know that she was staying out a little later because Mokuba had invited her out to see a movie.

Yeah, Jounouchi was sure he did, the brat.

Yuugi sighed, and turned his eyes to the ceiling. "It's okay, you can just admit I was the worst in the room. Next time we go, I think it'll be better if I just skip my turn. At least then no one will leave with bleeding eardrums."

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "No one's ear drums were bleeding. You weren't that—" Yuugi looked at him askance, his expression disbelieving, and this time it was Jounouchi's turn to sigh in defeat. "Okay, so you were terrible. So what? So was everyone else."

"You weren't," Yuugi muttered. "And Shizuka—"

"Yeah, but did you hear Otogi wailing? _There_ is a dying cat if I've ever heard one. More like a dying cat trapped inside an equally as dying cow." Yuugi snorted a laugh despite himself, and Jounouchi grinned. "And what about Honda and Anzu, huh? There's a reason why Anzu's a dancer and not a singer, and Honda wasn't that much better or worse than you."

"Maybe, but I was the only one making Shizuka-chan cringe, and I think I hurt Bakura-kun's ears, too," Yuugi said.

"That's just because Bakura was sitting too close to the speakers," Jounouchi said dismissively. "But like I said, who cares if you suck at singing? You only suck at singing because you're too good at everything else."

Yuugi gave Jounouchi a skeptical look. "I'm not too good at everything—"

"Yuugi, there's not a game on the planet you can't master within ten minutes of playing it," Jounouchi said, and although Yuugi's expression of skeptical disbelief didn't fade entirely, he did look a bit mollified, likely because even if he felt Jounouchi was exaggerating, he still couldn't honestly say Jounouchi was that far from the truth. "In fact, that's it. That's why you suck at singing. Remember when we made our characters for Bakura's tabletop game, how we had to fill out profiles and skill sets for them and stuff? How we had a certain number of points we could distribute out among the skills, like strength and agility and all that?"

"Yeah . . . ?"

"Well, there you go." Jounouchi gestured to Yuugi. "You tossed all your skill points in on gaming and had nothing left over for singing, so you're way unbalanced there. Whereas I used up all of my skill points on being devilishly handsome, so—" Yuugi sputtered a laugh again, though he quickly hid it behind his hand, and Jounouchi gave him a mock affronted look. "What? Are you saying I'm _not_ devilishly handsome?"

"I didn't say that."

"It sounded like you said that," Jounouchi said, and he propped himself up on his knees on the sofa cushion, even as Yuugi scrambled back so that he was leaning back against the armrest, both of them fighting back laughter.

"I didn't say anything!" Yuugi cried.

"Of course, if you think that, that just means I'm gonna have to change your mind . . ." Jounouchi grinned despite how serious he was trying to appear, his tongue poking between his teeth, and a smile broke out over Yuugi's face as well.

"Katsuya, wait—!"

Yuugi's protests broke out in laughter as Jounouchi tackled him against the couch, one arm thrown around Yuugi's waist while his other hand tickled him along his ribs. Yuugi squirmed in Jounouchi's hold, laughing and swatting Jounouchi's hand away, but—knowing that was a fruitless endeavor—he fought back by reaching up brush his fingers along the back of Jounouchi's neck. Jounouchi couldn't help the yelp of laughter that escaped his own mouth as he reflexively pulled back, but even as he did Yuugi pushed himself back up and planted a quick kiss against his lips.

"Feel better?" Jounouchi asked, and as Yuugi nodded, he let his hand slip right back to the ticklish spot around Yuugi's ribs. Yuugi batted his hand away again.

"Don't," Yuugi warned, but there was still mirth in his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. "I'll play dirty."

"Promise?" Jounouchi asked before he could help himself, and even though Yuugi playfully pushed against Katsuya's chest as if to push him back, they both dissolved into a helpless fit of giggles again, and Jounouchi let his forehead bump gently against Yuugi's as they laughed.


End file.
